The invention relates to concrete mixing apparatus and more particularly to concrete mixing apparatus intended to be either positioned at the work or job site or placed on a truck such as a flat bed truck. The prior art includes transit concrete mixing trucks which include a very heavy, complex and expensive drive mechanism. These mechanisms typically provide a drum which is mounted on a central shaft which is driven with a motor and transmission. The mechanism is particularly complex and heavy because of a need to rotate the drum when the axis of the drum is in at least two different positions. The two different positions being the loading and unloading positions of the drum. It will be understood that the term concrete mixing apparatus as used herein refers to apparatus for mixing cement, water, and an aggregate such as sand and/or stone. One problem that is encountered with conventional transit concrete mixers is that the batches of concrete that are mixed with such apparatus are ordinarily quite large and thus there may be waste due to the concrete starting to set up or cured before it can be used. This can in turn cause problems with cleaning of the mixing apparatus, waste of raw materials, and environmental problems due to dumping of the wasted concrete.
It is an object of the invention to provide apparatus which is more simple and much lighter in weight than the prior art apparatus.
It is another object of the invention to provide apparatus which is easily transported such as by a flatbed truck or trailer.
It is still another object of the invention to provide apparatus which minimizes cleaning problems.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide apparatus which provides a continuous output of freshly made concrete and thus avoids problems with concrete that has started to set up or cure before it can be used.